Chap2
A/N: This is set after the episode where Valerie is taken hostage, and Sandra is complemented, and Dorian flips a van, and hey soccer and bourbon go well together. This is my perspective on how it should have ended. Not established relationship, just comfort, friends and welcome arms to sleep in. Written Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas and enjoy the feels. Please read and review and send me prompts.
Prompt: *removing handcuffs* "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'll be okay."
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own feelings which demanded release via this fic. I don't own the characters or the story. Please don't hurt me. Just to recap, this is how it should have ended.
John's head snapped toward the floor just in time to see Valerie's tumbler shatter against the tile and the bronze liquid flow freely.
"Val, are you…" Shaking. She was shaking and her hand was clenched in a fist against her thigh. John covered her hand with his own and rubbed soothing strokes along her arm. The familiar sound of sirens played dimly, breaking the comfortable silence they shared.
For a long time, John sat and quietly soothed his coworker. It had been a rough day. Rough didn't even begin to cover it. Valerie Stahl had been taken hostage and hurt in the name of a justice system that only stopped about ten percent of crimes. And for what? A city that didn't care.
A tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly dabbed it away. Her eyes were brimming, trying to release the struggles of the day. That's what tears were for right? A chemical release for pain? She sat, fighting chemistry and biology while John comforted her.
"He said terrible things to me," she whispered. John hummed and kept stroking her knuckles in a gentle motion with his thumb. "That I was weak and worthless, and that…" John looked at her but she wouldn't meet his gaze.
"Go on, Val."
"…he got inside my head, John. I tried not to let him, but he used people I cared about." She took a deep, shaky breath. "He used you." She finally looked at him, and Jon saw the tears flowing down her red-stained cheeks. She desperately tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming.
"Do you want to tell me?" Valerie shook her head. Later. But John knew she meant, I'm not ready.
"Do you want to go home?" The game was over. There was no reason for either to stay at the precinct. She nodded. "Why don't you come to my place? I can order some hot food and you can sleep, if you want to that is." John knew offering up his apartment would look suspicious, forward, and might start rumors; but no way in hell was he letting Valerie go home alone. She'd been alone enough today.
She sniffed back a final tear. "Okay."
The drive to John's apartment was quiet. Valerie sat wrapped up in John's coat in the passenger side while John drove carefully. He had precious cargo to keep safe, after all. Once in his apartment, he steered Valerie toward his room where he presented her with pajama pants that were too long and the smallest t-shirt he owned. She smiled and whispered thank you. Grabbing his own pajamas, John left Valerie to her own devices while he reacquainted himself with changing in the bathroom.
Dinner was ordered shortly after. John settled on the couch waiting for his guest. The hot food promised to cheer up both their empty stomachs and gloomy moods.
Muffled sobs drew his attention away from his food. "Valerie?" He knocked on the bedroom door and gently opened it. Valerie sat on the edge of his bed in his oversized clothes, crying to herself with her hands clenched in her lap. It came so naturally, him kneeling in front of her and cooing gentle words. "Hey, come on honey, it's over. I'm here. You're safe." She caught his hand in bother of hers.
"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I don't think I can eat. Not now at least."
"Hey, that's just fine," he replied. "Do you need anything else?"
She looked up at him hopefully. His heart nearly cracked. "Will you stay with me? So I know I'm not by myself?" John nodded and without a word pulled back the covers so she could slide in.
"I'll be right back." She nodded and closed her eyes against his pillow. Walking out of the room he huffed into the kitchen. Leaning against the table, he twisted off his synthetic limb and hooked it up to the recalibration unit. Sighing he took up the old fashioned crutch with a sigh and hobbled back into his room. He had hoped to avoid Valerie seeing him without his leg, but no such luck. Did it really matter anyway right now?
In his room, he dimmed the lights and crawled into bed, feeling the sheets against the skin where the rest of his leg should be. Valerie, unaware of the change in his mass promptly curled up against his chest.
"Val, you're safe. I'm here for you," John whispered into her hair and cradled her body against his.
"Promise?"
John smiled. "Promise."
They fell asleep curled tightly against each other, sharing oxygen with the unspoken consensus that this night was their secret. Together, they fell asleep with the muted sound of sirens and speeding vehicles in the distance. And John forgot the absence of his leg somewhere in the night, due to the replacement of different kind of flesh settled comfortably in his arms.
A/N: I had so much fun writing this. I hope you all liked it. Remember to read, review, enjoy and send me prompts. By the way, what do we think of the last paragraph?
